The photo above was taken in March of 2019. This year we had a particularly heavy snow here in Montana that fell within just a few days. While this may not occur every year, or even every 10 years; when it does, you want to rest assure that whatever you spent money building remains intact.

The roof on this structure is hardly visible on a cell phone, but zoom in. The roof is now inside the building, and either the builder did not get plans or they did not get adequate plans. If they had a good set of plans and this happened, then they were not followed. This is a fact, because correct and comprehensive plan sets have had calculations on the loads and other forces exerted on the structure determined and accounted for. Also, connections are detailed or specified, down to the number of nails required. I can think of no good reason for this type of failure if comprehensive and cohesive plans were followed during the build.

Structural failure is not the only life safety issue. So are fire danger, electrocution, carbon monoxide poisoning, falling and other household hazards. All of these hazards can be minimized from the stand point of building design by means of a well thought out plan that follows the guidelines set forth in the International Building Code, International Fire Code, Electrical Code and other codes Knot Square interprets to generate the Construction Documents it supplies.